The Johnson County Democratic Committee held its annual Kirkpatrick Dinner in Warrensburg last night. A number of statewide candidates and office holders spoke, as did area legislative candidates. ElGene Ver Dught (D) is the Democratic party candidate in the 21st Senate District.

ElGene Ver Dught (D): …I’m very, very happy to be here with you all tonight. And I appreciate your support. You know, two thousand sixteen’s gonna be a very important year, uh, and I have sensed this for some time. The pendulum is swinging and, and the public is very much aware of this. The public is hungry for good candidates….

I’m also a mediator, an attorney trained mediator. Don’t hold that against me. [laughter] If I’m elected as your state senator it will be the first mediator in the Senate.

Mediation is a voluntary settlement process whereby people try to visit with each other and work out problems and be problem solvers. It’s the ultimate in self determination. And for those of you who are students who have never voted before, this is the essence of Democracy. And that’s what we teach constantly in mediation – because everyone should have the right to make their own determination as to how they want the outcome to be. Mediation also allows both sides to be winners. And that’s very, very important.

And I think in this election, uh, you need to hear the positive, constructive ideas moving Missouri forward. And I think we’re going to do that this year. The timing is right, the candidates are right, and I think the public is going to respond…

[….]

….I was also a history major and I just want to close with one thought that had come from Harry Truman in nineteen forty-eight. You know, that was the year that he wasn’t supposed to win the presidency. But he said, over and over, for people to forget about their political persuasion, whether they’re Republican or Democrat, and vote instead for themselves. And then he paused, and said, and you’ll usually vote Democratic. [laughter] That’s very, very true….

It’s very important for us to realize in drafting public policy that we have a lot of thought in to it and everybody participates and contributes to it. I’ll think we’ll make Missouri move forward in our public policy if we do that.